Quit while you're ahead, star of Downton tells its creator: Hugh Bonneville is worried show's storyline could overlap with other period dramas like Upstairs Downstairs

Fears: Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville said he is worried about the show progressing too far ahead and overlapping with other period dramas

Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville has cast doubt over the future of the show after urging its creator to ‘quit while he is ahead’.

Bonneville, who plays central character the Earl of Grantham, said that if the ITV series progresses too far in time, the storyline could end up overlapping with other period dramas such as Upstairs Downstairs.

The fourth series of Downton Abbey, which was created and is written by Julian Fellowes, is scheduled to begin next month. It is set in 1922, six months on from the end of the previous series and several years before the BBC’s Upstairs Downstairs, which was set in the 1930s.

Asked how long Downton could continue, Bonneville, 49, said: ‘I don’t know how long Julian can go on.

‘I am sure the money men would like it to go on for ever and ever because it does sell extremely well around the world. The next series is nudging forward and starts six to eight months ahead from the last and I think we will start to bump into other period dramas if we are not careful timewise. I hope Julian quits while he is ahead but he is a wise soul.’

Bonneville added that he was ‘colossally lucky’ to be in the show, but said: ‘It is a merry-go-round that will stop at some point and we will all get off and go in different directions.’

During a talk at the Oxford University Union, he added: ‘I have been in the business for 26 years and we leave the scripts up to Julian.

Successful: Downton Abbey is scheduled to begin its fourth series next month

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However, Fellowes himself revealed he has had one crucial ally when it comes to securing the show’s remarkable success – his wife.

The Oscar-winning writer, who has been honoured with a life peerage, said that his marriage had helped cure him of his insecurities and allowed his once floundering career to flourish, admitting he was crippled by self-doubt in his younger years after feeling overshadowed by his ‘frightfully handsome’ older brother.

In an interview with The Lady magazine, Fellowes, who married Lady Emma Kitchener in 1990, said: ‘The great change in my professional life was sealed by my marriage. It gave me a basis that I had lacked before. I smelt different.’

Downton Abbey has become a huge hit since it was first broadcast in 2010. It now has an audience of 120million across more than 100 countries and has been nominated for 12 Emmy awards this year.